Investigation into Two Colorado Students' Fatal Fall: Rappelling Anchor Suffered Catastrophic Failure, Both Died Instantly
The Chaffee County Sheriff's Office and the Chaffee County Coroner's Office in Colorado released their investigation findings on Nov. 3: the two college students found dead below West Apostle Mountain in late October, Kaden Matsuda, 19, of Ridgway, Colorado, and Jackson Donlon, 20, of Queensbury, New York, died in a fall after the anchor they were using to rappel suffered a catastrophic failure. Autopsies found both died of multiple blunt force injuries and that their deaths were instant.
Both were students at Colorado Mountain College's Leadville campus. They set out on Oct. 23 for a weekend climbing trip and did not return; searchers found their bodies on Oct. 28 in a snow-filled basin below West Apostle Mountain, and the bodies were recovered the following day. Autopsies performed on Nov. 2 in El Paso County established the cause of death.
Investigators reconstructed the accident as follows: Donlon was beginning to rappel from a primary anchor point set on rock, backed up by a piton and a secondary anchor, while Matsuda was attached to the same anchor points through his personal anchor device. The anchor then suffered a catastrophic failure of unknown cause, and both fell a substantial distance, the exact distance unknown.
The statement said it was unknown whether the severe snowstorm that struck the Colorado mountains had a negative impact leading to the incident, but the storm was not a direct contributing factor in their deaths. Chaffee County Sheriff Andy Rohrich said the two students had prepared for their trip and showed a strong understanding of mountain activities. West Apostle Mountain is part of the Three Apostles massif, near the 13,958-foot Ice Mountain.
(Source: Chaffee County Sheriff's Office, Colorado)
Source: Chaffee County Sheriff's Office, Colorado
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：从 Huron 峰望向西使徒山。照片：jokermanj，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: West Apostle Mountain seen from Huron Peak. Photo by jokermanj, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
